-=Ulta Beauty (ULTA) reported earnings on Thur 29 Aug 2019 (a/h)

Ulta Beauty misses by $0.04, reports revs in-line; lowers FY20 EPS and rev below consensus 

Reports Q2 (Jul) earnings of $2.76 per share, $0.04 worse than the S&P Capital IQ Consensus of $2.80; revenues rose 12.0% year/year to $1.67 bln vs the $1.68 bln S&P Capital IQ Consensus. 

Comparable sales (sales for stores open at least 14 months and e-commerce sales) increased 6.2% compared to an increase of 6.5% in the second quarter of fiscal 2018. The 6.2% comparable sales increase was driven by 5.4% transaction growth and 0.8% growth in average ticket; Gross profit as a percentage of net sales increased 40 basis points to 36.4% compared to 36.0% in the second quarter of fiscal 2018, primarily due to improvement in merchandise margins driven by our marketing and merchandising strategies and leverage of fixed store costs, partially offset by investments in our salon services;

Co issues downside guidance for FY20 to reflect anticipated industry-wide sales headwinds, sees EPS of $11.86-12.06 from $12.83-13.03 vs. $12.97 S&P Capital IQ Consensus; sees FY20 revs +9-12% (from low DD growth) to $7.32-7.52 vs. $7.54 bln S&P Capital IQ Consensus; achieve comparable sales growth of ~4% to 6% (previously 6% to 7%), including e-commerce growth of 20% to 30%.